Nick, who now lives in Bristol, was living a healthy and normal life when out of the blue he was hit by a serious heart condition.

"I was 28 when I had the transplant," he explained. "When I was 27, having previously been healthy, I was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy.

"It can have fatal consequences in otherwise young people."

Cardiomyopathy refers to diseases of the heart's muscles where the organ's chambers become stretched, thickened or stiff.

"It was a bit scary when they diagnosed it," explained Nick. "I was working and leading a full life but the cardiologist I saw predicted that I would go downhill - which is exactly what happened within months rather than years.

"There were times when I could get up and walk around but I tired very easily. But other times an ambulance had to be called.

"My father later told me that there were a couple of times he thought I was going to die. There were some scary moments."

Sir Terence English, founder of the Papworth Transplant Programme

Nick was put forward for a heart transplant, a procedure in its relative infancy in the 1980s.

"At first I was a bit reluctant, the statistic at the time were about 30 per cent didn't survive the first year," said Nick.

"But I gradually realised my chance of survival was greater. The odds were improving all the time.

"I had no hesitation going. I understood the risks."

Papworth Hospital (Image: Roger Adams)

Nick estimates he was around the 260th person to received a heart transplant in the UK.

Carrying out the operation was Sir Terence English who performed the first successful heart transplant at Papworth in 1979.

On April 9, 1988, after a two month wait, Nick went under the knife, but he does not remember much of the operation itself.

"You get put under general anaesthetic and you don't really remember," he said.

"I remember waking up and having all these tubes in me and beyond that I don't remember very much."

Nick Davies defied expectations and has lived a healthy life after his transplant (Image: Nick Davies)

His recovery in hospital was relatively swift, moving from ICU to the Mallard Ward and then to a nearby flat from where he could visit the clinic three days a week.

"I was certainly home in four weeks," Nick said. "At 28 you recover much more quickly.

"As I recovered from the effects of the operations I'd lost a lot of weight, two or three stone. I was very thin.